


the first time.

by rushie



Category: Dimension 20 (Web Series)
Genre: Campaign 05: A Crown of Candy, Canonical Character Death, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-17
Updated: 2020-06-17
Packaged: 2021-03-03 22:28:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 929
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24763129
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rushie/pseuds/rushie
Summary: The first time Theobald Gumbar uses Swirlwarden is the day that Lazuli Rocks dies.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 17





	the first time.

The first time Theobald Gumbar uses Swirlwarden is the day that Lazuli Rocks dies.

The weather is against them. It is dark and thunderous. Rain pours in thick sheets, and they are wet before they are a hundred paces from their camp. The young knights with whom Theo marches, normally so boisterous, are quiet and grim as they trudge toward what will become their battlefield. Manta Ray looks a little green around the gills; even he feels the ill wind on the air. They all went to sleep the night before without talking. Gustavo Uvano is gray-faced. He looks much older than he did even several hours ago. He is a good man; not quite as rowdy as his other friends, fair, kind. He carries himself like a ruler, even in heavy armor. Straight-backed and proud, his footsteps sure. He will be a good emperor—if they make it out alive.

Theo feels ill. He scans the troops for Lazuli and sees her several yards away. She is regal, her mouth determined. There is usually something a little faraway about her expression, as if she is seeing too many things at once to clearly focus on any of them, even the present, but it is gone now. Her gaze is clear and direct. This does not comfort Theo as much as he once thought it might. Lazuli's wistfulness often gives off the impression of softness—of body and of mind—but there is nothing soft about her now. She is a Rocks, and she looks every inch of one.

He loses sight of her in the battle. It is difficult to see much in front of him. Arrows ping off of his armor; one glances off of his helmet, and it startles him. He hadn't even seen it coming. He squints through the rain, shoving his way forward with Swirlwarden, lashing out with Battlepop. But it seems like the enemy is endless; he drops one and another pops up in their place. It feels like some kind of carnival house trick, and more than once Theo blinks hard to make sure he isn't seeing things.

He is next to Lazuli for three minutes before he realizes that it's her.

"There are so many of them!" He has to shout to be heard over the rain. Some enemy soldiers charge toward them; Theo dispatches two with Battlepop. The other two fall at a wave of Lazuli's hand.

"Yes," she says. Her voice is quiet, but he hears her over weather as if they are beside one another in her tent. "There are too many, I am afraid. Gustavo will never win this way. None of us will."

There is resignation in her tone. The battle rages on around them, but Theo watches Lazuli instead. She is rolling up her sleeves to her elbows; they sag around her arms, heavy with water. Her gaze is clearer than Theo has ever seen it.

"What are you going to do?"

She turns to smile at him, a soft, sad smile. "Oh, Theobald," she sighs. "You have been such a good student." Her head tilts to one side. "Not, perhaps, the most likely pupil. But all the better for it."

That sick feeling returns to Theo's stomach. Battlepop feels heavy in his hand. "You—" He wants to say _You can't_ , but of course she can. She is a princess of the House of Rocks. She can do whatever she wants. Sir Theobald Gumbar, just a knight, is in no position to tell her what she can and cannot do. "They need you," he says instead. "Your sisters—Amethar—Caramelinda—" And _he_ needs her. Theo is a better knight—a better man—for her tutelage. How are any of them supposed to get by without her?

"Oh, my Theobald." She sighs, as if this is just another lesson that he has yet to grasp. "I have to do this for them. I have to save them—all of our people. And Gustavo. And, by extension, the world." She lays a hand on his cheek. It is slick with rain. "Protect them, Theobald." She nods over his shoulder.

As Theobald turns, Lazuli's hand falls from his face. He sees Amethar, laying waste to those around him. But approaching from over the hill—an enemy soldier wielding a spear that Amethar clearly hasn't seen. He spares one more glance at Lazuli—she has raised her arms and closed her eyes—then turns and begins to charge across the battlefield. The shield on his arm begins to glow, and then, suddenly, it pulls Theo forward. He stumbles, but the shield keeps pulling at his arm, until he finally gives in and allows it. It is almost instant; he appears in front of Amethar just in time to take the thrown spear in his shoulder. It hurts; it'll bruise. But the spear glances off his armor and Theo, grimacing, dispatches the soldier with Battlepop.

Then the arrows come. They fall with quick, deadly precision, and Theo and Amethar stand back-to-back to keep out of their way. But the arrows miss their troops. They strike only the enemy. Across the battlefield, Gustavo Uvano holds up the enemy standard. His men cheer. Amethar lets out a _whoop_ so loud that Theo's eardrum quakes. But Theo is not watching Gustavo. He is not celebrating in the mud with the others. He is turning on the spot to see the place where he just came from. Dread sits like a pit in his stomach.

When Theobald Gumbar looks back, Lazuli Rocks is gone. 


End file.
